World Cup 2014 Brazil - Full time Report

Germany the deserved victors in the World Cup final, which delivered possibly the best goal of the tournament from Gotze. Was it the best World Cup ever, possibly. It was certainly the most watched final with over an estimated billion viewers worldwide. Did we see the best football possible, possbily not. Messi Neymar and Ronaldo are as ever, only one man in a team and cannot expect to be at their best without the support of their team mates with comparable skills.

This World Cup will be remembered for a few things:-

Quick exit of some of the favourites and former winners - Italy, Spain and of course England. England yes we expected to go out but not Itsly or defending champions Spain.

Surprise performances from Costa Rica and Columbia brought the tournament alive. These teams showed that the small teams must now be considered as real competitors. The USA also turned in some good performances and woke up their home audience with record TV numbers.

Dramatic penalty deciders, in particular Netherlands v Columbia. Van Gal's decision to substitute his goalkeeper at the last minute was sheer genius or total luck.

The Suarez incident, where after producing killer goals against England he falls into old eating habits and tries a bit of Italian and gets a record transfer to Barcelona. It seems that you only have to be totally unprofessional in football to succeed.

Without a doubt the most memorable part of the last four weeks was the total disintegration of the Brazil team going down 7 - 1 to Germany and then 3 - 0 to the Netherlands shortly afterwards. You cannot lay all of this on Neymar as he like Messi or Ronaldo is only one player in a team of eleven.

Two last things that must be mentioned. 

1 The introduction of the spray foam for the referees to control free kicks was a winner and cut out vast amounts of time wasting.

 2 Against all expectations the hosts Brazil produced an excellent tournament. There may have been a few elements not complete but who really noticed, the football won through. This ultimately gives Russia the next hosts a big "follow that" . They will have to overcome the exactly the same problems as Brazil - corruption, building delays, security and the size of the country. If they achieve the same level of success then we will have the prospect of another great tournament.

Messi - an example to all footballers

 Lionel Messi we all know his skills and have been impressed by his performance so far in Brazil. What is not always publicised is the way he plays. What do I mean? The example he is setting is for all footballers who when touched ever so slightly in tackle or just brushing past dive to the ground via a double somersault with twist and holding of an uninjured body part.

 

Tonights game against Belgium was a perfect example, attacking he had four or five Belgians take a hack at him but he continued to display fantastic football skills, it was only after one last hack he went down. This guy is a true professional footballer who has never been to drama school. Almost single handed he has guided Argentina to the World Cup semis without complaint and without argument. What is even more remarkable is that he is a target more than anyone else because of his skills and is often hacked out of a game but still his complaint are minimal and certainly you never see a dive. All footballers note, this is the star to copy. This is the image young footballers should aspire to not the Suarez one. Unfortunately with the money / business now involved in football what are the chances of this happening?